When Google announced it was complying with US President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, many Mexicans responded with a laugh and a long, exhausted sigh.
"As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America," the Interior Department stated in a statement last week. Google responded by noting that the change complies with its longstanding policy of aligning map labeling with updates in official government databases.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that her government will send a letter to Google after the internet giant said it would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico for users of Google Maps in the United States.
Google says it will take its cue from the U.S. government if it has to change the names of the Gulf of Mexico and Denali on its Maps service.
A supermajority of Americans don’t approve of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” according to the results of a new poll. Around 70% of respondents to the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey opposed the move, with 25% of respondents supporting it. The rest were unsure.
The change will only be visible to U.S. users. Those in Mexico will still see “Gulf of Mexico,” while those in the rest of the world will see both names on the map.
Google said it would rename the body of water to “Gulf of America” after it is updated in the U.S. government system in response to Trump’s executive order.
Google Maps will change the name of "Gulf of Mexico" to "Gulf of America" once it is officially updated in the U.S. Geographic Names System, Google said in an X post on Monday.
Changing maps to say "Gulf of America" doesn't change history, and likely won't change what most people call the massive basin
But the more I thought about it, the more I was seduced by the idea. President Trump can add to his legacy by eliminating the nonsensical and bringing common sense back to our lives. Why stop with the Gulf of Mexico and Mt. McKinley?
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rebuked Google’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps in a Wednesday press conference. After President Donald Trump issued an executive order changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in all government references,